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Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences

Recent Student Publications

Listed here is a selection of recent publications by current students.

  1. Thorne AK, Waldeck NJ, Rose JP, Stachowski MJ, Guak H, Keeble AR, Kuusik B, Simon E, Marcheva B, Mastroni JV  et al.  An RNA thermogenic therapy to preserve lean mass and enhance metabolic health during GLP-1 weight loss.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  2026 Oct 06;123(40):e2618845123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2618845123
  2. Huey DJ, Guadarrama E, DeKeyser JM, Vanoye CG, Simmons CQ, Li Q, Stroup EK, Ji Z, George AL  An upstream open reading frame represses translation of the neuronal potassium channel KCNQ2.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  2026 Aug 25;123(34):e2610782123. pii:e2610782123
  3. McDowell H, Sun S, McNally R, Huerta C, Asif H, Yoon J, Alvarez A, Yildiz S, Foley KG, Boots C  et al.  Endometriosis-derived iPSCs reveal conserved stromal maturation and endocrine responsiveness.  Sci Adv  2026 Aug 21;12(34):eaeg2362. pii:eaeg2362
  4. Lou KF, Fulcer MM, Lotesto MJ, Davis JM, Ortiz Serrano TP, Ma R, Ridge KM  Murine models of pulmonary fibrosis: mechanisms, limitations and translational insights.  Eur Respir Rev  2026 Jul;35(181). pii:260033
  5. Lee G, Fitt AJ, Long AM, Vaught LA, DeBiasse D, Keeble AR, Kwon JM, Page PG, Daher MT, Hadhazy M  et al.  Excess muscle plasma membrane leak disrupts ECM content and shifts macrophage-mediated muscle repair.  JCI Insight  2026 Aug 10;11(15). pii:e205137
  6. Xiao S, Kobayashi M, Bai Y, Cai W, Barajas S, Amin MA, Vemula S, Yao C, Yang Y, Borchers C  et al.  PTP4A2 promotes leukemogenesis through inhibiting the p53 tumor suppressor signaling pathway in leukemia-initiating cells.  Blood Adv  2026 Jul 14;10(13):4468-4482. doi:10.1182/bloodadvances.2025018908
  7. Beauchamp EM, Jain A, Clutter M, Nahotko D, Lopez Fajardo E, Vagadia PP, Dunne SF, Mina A, Fischietti M, Oku CV  et al.  Development of a SIN1 Targeting Inhibitor as a Novel Therapeutic Approach for the Treatment of Malignancies.  Mol Cancer Ther  2026 Jul 02;25(7):1111-1129. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-25-0298
  8. Passetti HA, Johnstone JP, Miller BJ, Renner DW, Abu Rass R, Bowen CD, Li Y, Hayes CK, Akhtar LN, Szpara ML  Herpes simplex virus type 1 isolated from newborns reveals viral diversity between and within patients.  J Infect Dis  2026 Jun 26;. pii:jiag328
  9. Murmann AE, Ebadi M, Patel M, Ewe A, Barajas S, Xiao S, Ko MJ, Lee S, Cai W, Paudel B  et al.  Developing a pan cancer therapy based on DISE-inducing short RNAs.  Mol Ther Nucleic Acids  2026 Jun 16;37(2):102963. pii:102963
  10. Ball HE, Woods AC, Wong YC  TDP-43 oxidation and PP1 crosstalk at RNA granule-mitochondria contact sites.  Nat Commun  2026 Jun 05;17(1). pii:7201
  11. Ferrari ÁJR, Dixit SM, Thibeault J, Garcia M, Houliston S, Ludwig RW, Notin P, Phoumyvong CM, Martell CM, Jung MD  et al.  Large-scale discovery, analysis and design of protein energy landscapes.  Nature  2026 Jun;654(8120):1108-1118. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10465-z
  12. Clark C, Yang G, Alarcon C, Mishra M, Perera MA  Integrative Mapping of Regulatory Variation in African American Hepatocytes Using Colocalization and MPRA: Toward Precision Drug Response.  Res Sq  2026 May 20;. pii:rs.3.rs-9611937
  13. Cho Y, Tsuboyama K, Litberg TJ, Jung MD, Obisesan A, Wang Q, Phoumyvong CM, Thibeault J, Ovchinnikov S, Rocklin GJ  Accurate protein stability prediction for small domains using mega-scale experiments.  bioRxiv  2026 May 20;. pii:2026.05.19.726285
  14. Barajas A, Mayoral J, Cianciotto NP  Major type IV pilin of Legionella pneumophila enhances bacterial iron acquisition/assimilation, independently of its role in piliation.  mBio  2026 May 13;17(5):e0059626. pii:e00596-26
  15. Everett BA, Prindle A  AexB is an aromatic amino acid exporter that functions as a metabolic safety valve.  mBio  2026 May 13;17(5):e0023126. pii:e00231-26
  16. Fisher NP, Kanchustambham VL, Tsui EL, Lock C, Xu T, McDowell HB, Pla I, Saunders DC, Kafader JO, Laronda MM  et al.  Probing Proteoform Heterogeneity From Single Human Oocytes.  Mol Cell Proteomics  2026 May;25(5):101566. pii:101566
  17. Billingham LK, DeLay SL, Eshac Y, Chia TY, Tripathi S, Olson IE, Zilinger K, Subbiah J, Wang Z, Sadagopan NS  et al.  Microglial fructose metabolism is essential for glioblastoma growth.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  2026 Mar 24;123(12):e2521256123. pii:e2521256123
  18. Haupt B, Turunen J, Olson I, Ahmed AU, Balyasnikova IV  Transcranial cisternal port enables repetitive intrathecal delivery in mice.  Sci Rep  2026 Mar 10;16(1). pii:12905
  19. Hepler C, Waldeck NJ, Weidemann BJ, Marcheva B, Chen YJ, Hecker J, Zhu Z, Nozawa R, Mastroni JV, Thorne AK  et al.  Adipocyte NADH dehydrogenase reverses circadian and diet-induced metabolic syndrome.  Nat Metab  2026 Mar;8(3):559-571. doi:10.1038/s42255-026-01464-5
  20. Bodner J, Vadlamani P, Lee AS, Helmin KA, Liu Q, Pratasenia AE, Horst MMA, Ravisankar S, Khurana S, Mendillo ML  et al.  Human CRAMP1 specifically promotes the expression of histone H1 genes.  EMBO Rep  2026 Mar;27(5):1122-1145. doi:10.1038/s44319-026-00704-9
  21. Sun L, Tang A, Liao J, Yang GY  Distinct Single-Cell Expression Pattern of the Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase and Cytochrome p450 Epoxygenases in Human and Mouse Small Intestinal Epithelia.  J Histochem Cytochem  2026;74(2):163-179. pii:00221554251403631
  22. Chen S, Barajas S, Vemula S, Yang Y, Simpson E, Gao H, Li R, Behzadnia F, Nabinger SC, Schmitz DA  et al.  Mutant p53 promotes clonal hematopoiesis by generating a chronic inflammatory microenvironment.  J Clin Invest  2026 Feb 02;136(3). pii:e184285
  23. Davis BT, Han H, Islam MBAR, Ford K, Chen Z, Abdala-Valencia H, Green S, Weiss C, Procissi D, Schwulst SJ  Short-Chain Fatty Acid Supplementation After Traumatic Brain Injury Attenuates Neurologic Injury Via the Gut-Brain-Microglia Axis.  Shock  2026 Feb 01;65(2):329-341. doi:10.1097/SHK.0000000000002706
  24. Lazzarotto CR, Katta V, Li Y, Manquen G, Wood RK, Chyr J, Urbina E, Matsubara A, Lee G, Wu X  et al.  Sensitive and unbiased genome-wide profiling of base-editor-induced off-target activity using CHANGE-seq-BE.  Nat Biotechnol  2026 Jan 02;. doi:10.1038/s41587-025-02948-7
  25. Liu K, Iyer R, Li Y, Zhu J, Cai Z, Wei J, Cheng Y, Tang AY, Wang H, Gao Q  et al.  USP22 drives tumor immune evasion and checkpoint blockade resistance through EZH2-mediated epigenetic silencing of MHC-I.  J Clin Invest  2026 Jan 02;136(1). pii:e193162
  26. Gomez-Maqueo X, Rylaarsdam LE, Woo A, Schroder AL, Rakotomamonjy J, Bossert CL, Smith TA, Ruiz S, Gilardi J, Klei L  et al.  PACS1 syndrome variant alters proteomic landscape of developing cortical organoids.  bioRxiv  2025 Dec 27;. pii:2025.04.23.650290
  27. Olson IE, Chojak R, Faisal UH, Turunen J, Lazanyi I, Miska J, Ahmed AU  Use of Cerebral Open-Flow Microperfusion for the Longitudinal Collection of Interstitial Fluid in an Animal Model of Glioblastoma.  J Vis Exp  2025 Dec 23;(226). doi:10.3791/68748
  28. Haupt BE, Turunen J, Olson I, Ahmed AU, Balyasnikova IV  The Transcranial Cisternal Port (TCP): A Novel Technique for Repetitive Intrathecal Delivery in Mice.  Res Sq  2025 Dec 01;. pii:rs.3.rs-8080141
  29. Nengroo MA, Klein AT, Carr HS, Vidal-Cruchez O, Sahu U, McGrail DJ, Sahni N, Thompson NB, Faull PA, Gao P  et al.  Accumulation of succinate suppresses de novo purine synthesis through succinylation-mediated control of the mitochondrial folate cycle.  Mol Cell  2025 Nov 20;85(22):4215-4228.e9. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2025.10.002
  30. Martell CM, Gebis KK, Van HM, Gutierrez YM, Jung MD, Savas JN, Rocklin GJ  Global Analysis of Aggregation Determinants in Small Protein Domains.  bioRxiv  2025 Nov 12;. pii:2025.11.11.687847
  31. Carpio Gonzalez D, Glasco AD, Woloschak GE, Dewji SA  Reconstructing strontium-90 intake in beagles using neural networks: a data-driven assessment of historical inhalation records.  J Radiol Prot  2025 Nov 06;45(4). pii:041512
  32. Yu R, Kim S, Li S, Yang W, Kim G, Lu LF, Cong Y, Kim D, Min B  Intronic miR-342 is a key regulator of cellular glycolysis in Foxp3+ regulatory CD4 T cells.  J Immunol  2025 Nov 01;214(11):2976-2986. doi:10.1093/jimmun/vkaf181
  33. Campo H, Hashim PH, Zaniker-Gomez EJ, Gauthier S, Yan Z, Zhang HF, Ankrum JA, Duncan FE  Production and Use of Customizable Agarose Molds for Scaffold-Free Mouse Ovarian Follicle Culture.  J Vis Exp  2025 Oct 24;(224). doi:10.3791/68871
  34. Hepler C, Waldeck NJ, Weidemann BJ, Marcheva B, Chen YJ, Hecker J, Zhu Z, Nozawa R, Mastroni JV, Thorne AK  et al.  NADH dehydrogenase reverses dietary and clock metabolic syndrome.  bioRxiv  2025 Oct 23;. pii:2025.10.22.684030
  35. Almubarak HF, Tan W, Hoffmann AD, Sun Y, Wei J, El-Shennawy L, Squires JR, Dashzeveg NK, Simonton B, Jia Y  et al.  Integrated antibody language model accelerates IgG screening and design for broad-spectrum antiviral therapy.  iScience  2025 Oct 17;28(10):113584. pii:113584
  36. Alicea Pauneto CDM, Riesenberg BP, Gandy EJ, Kennedy AS, Clutton GT, Hem JW, Hurst KE, Hunt EG, Green JM, Miller BC  et al.  Intra-tumoral hypoxia promotes CD8+ T cell dysfunction via chronic activation of integrated stress response transcription factor ATF4.  Immunity  2025 Oct 14;58(10):2489-2504.e8. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2025.09.003
  37. Fazal A, Harker EJ, Neelam V, Olson SM, Rolfes MA, Reinhart K, Kniss K, Frutos A, Leonard J, Reed C  et al.  Pediatric Influenza-Associated Encephalopathy and Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy - United States, 2024-25 Influenza Season.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep  2025 Sep 25;74(36):556-564. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7436a1
  38. Liang Z, Maddineni A, Ortega JA, Magdongon CB, Jambardi S, Roy S, Tycko J, Patil A, Manzano M, Bartom ET  et al.  Cytotoxicity of activator expression in CRISPR-based transcriptional activation systems.  Nat Commun  2025 Aug 29;16(1):8071. pii:8071
  39. Hoffmann AD, Almubarak HF, Iyer R, Weinberg SE, Squires JR, Mao C, Wei J, Chaudhuri S, El-Shennawy L, Dashzeveg NK  et al.  Identification of immune signatures associated with both SARS-CoV-2 infection and lung transplantation.  Cell Rep Med  2025 Aug 19;6(8):102262. pii:102262
  40. Bauer R, Parker C, Cardona Matos Z, Hayes MG, Kunselman AR, Legro RS, Welt CK, Urbanek M  Pathogenic variation in insulin resistance genes is common in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): a strategy for causal gene discovery using whole-exome sequencing (WES) in complex traits.  medRxiv  2025 Aug 15;. pii:2025.08.13.25333592
  41. Popowitch EB, Boiditswe SC, Patel MZ, Aquino JN, Hurst JH, Steenhoff AP, Cunningham AL, Yoon JW, Seed PC, Kelly MS  Corynebacterium rhinophilum sp. nov. isolated from the human upper respiratory tract.  Int J Syst Evol Microbiol  2025 Jul;75(7). pii:006835
  42. Cunningham AL, Zhbannikov IY, Myers R, Tran TH, Gao W, Lemon KP, Aquino JN, Hurst JH, Yoon JW, Seed PC  et al.  Genome mining identifies a diversity of natural product biosynthetic capacity in human respiratory Corynebacterium strains.  mSphere  2025 Jun 25;10(6):e0025825. pii:e00258-25
  43. Ranava D, Lander SM, Kuan SY, Winkelman JD, Prindle A, Yap MF  A promiscuous Bcd amino acid dehydrogenase promotes biofilm development in Bacillus subtilis.  NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes  2025 Jun 21;11(1):112. pii:112
  44. Bauer R, Parker C, Gorsic LK, Hayes MG, Kunselman AR, Legro RS, Welt CK, Urbanek M  Rare Variation in LMNA Underlies Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Pathogenesis in 2 Independent Cohorts.  J Clin Endocrinol Metab  2025 Jun 17;110(7):e2217-e2232. doi:10.1210/clinem/dgae761
  45. Li Y, Ding Y, Dennis S, Hutch MR, Zhou J, Zhou Y, Li Y, Pillai M, Ghotbaldini S, Garcia MA  et al.  SOAR elucidates biological insights and empowers drug discovery through spatial transcriptomics.  Sci Adv  2025 Jun 13;11(24):eadt7450. pii:eadt7450
  46. Wang H, Hu D, Cheng Y, Gao Q, Liu K, Mani NL, Tang AY, Iyer R, Gao B, Sun L  et al.  Succinate drives gut inflammation by promoting FOXP3 degradation through a molecular switch.  Nat Immunol  2025 Jun;26(6):866-880. doi:10.1038/s41590-025-02166-y
  47. Wang J, Fu C, Chang S, Stephens C, Li H, Wang D, Fu YC, Green KJ, Yan J, Yi R  PIEZO1-mediated calcium signaling reinforces mechanical properties of hair follicle stem cells to promote quiescence.  Sci Adv  2025 May 30;11(22):eadt2771. pii:eadt2771
  48. Schroder AL, Songster LD, Savich Y, Titus MA  Filopodia numbers impact chemotactic migration speed.  bioRxiv  2025 May 29;. pii:2025.05.28.656686
  49. Chaikin CA, Thakkar AV, Steffeck AWT, Pfrender EM, Hung K, Zhu P, Waldeck NJ, Nozawa R, Song W, Futtner CR  et al.  Control of circadian muscle glucose metabolism through the BMAL1-HIF axis in obesity.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  2025 Apr;122(13):e2424046122. pii:e2424046122
  50. Ferrari ÁJR, Dixit SM, Thibeault J, Garcia M, Houliston S, Ludwig RW, Notin P, Phoumyvong CM, Martell CM, Jung MD  et al.  Large-scale discovery, analysis, and design of protein energy landscapes.  bioRxiv  2025 Mar 25;. pii:2025.03.20.644235

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